The Essentials About Walk In Showers And Wet Rooms
There is something special about having no transition between the bathroom and the shower. Something special about walking straight through the room and being under your showerhead. It’s a freedom that can only be understood by experiencing it. Walk in shower enclosures and wet rooms give this sense of freedom within your bathroom, opening up the space and bringing in a level of elegance that is not acquirable through any other means.
Whether you’re redesigning your old bathroom or constructing a whole new one, walk in shower enclosures and wet rooms should be the highest on your list of considerations. But what do you need to know about the two? Read through this guide to find out the essentials you need to know and get ready for the best showers of your life.
The Difference Between Walk In Showers And Wet Rooms
The first thing to clarify is the difference between a walk in shower enclosure and a wet room. With a true wet room, the space is entirely open plan, though often a shower screen is used between the showerhead and the rest of the room. The shower floor is completely flush with the floor, utilising a slight gradient to allow the water to flow toward the drain and away from the rest of the room. The shower screen is often an advised addition to a wet room to keep the water from the showerhead from splashing the rest of the room. A wet room requires complete sealing with waterproof boarding to prevent water from leaking, meaning that a wet room takes a lot more time and requires thorough installation from a professional, as well as a lot of work to convert the room.
A walk in shower enclosure, on the other hand, is simply a shower enclosure with no doors. This type of shower enclosure often includes a wet room screen and a low-to-the-ground shower tray, with one end of the shower having the screen to prevent the rest of the bathroom from getting wet and the other side free from glass or door to allow for drying off. Walk in shower enclosures are a fantastic option, allowing you to get the feel of a wet room with the amount of work or price often associated with them.
The Advantages
There are a huge number of advantages to the walk in shower that a designer should consider when choosing the new look for their bathroom. The first thing to think about is, of course, the beauty of the walk in shower enclosure. The sleek design of using nothing but clean glass and open space will lend your bathroom a high end, luxury look and feel, something that will boost not only the style of your bathroom but, in fact, the value of your property. Your bathroom is somewhere that you spend vast amounts of time in, morning and night. Therefore, cleaning oneself in a luxurious, elegant room should be a number one priority for the avid home designer. Minimal fittings and fixtures, a clean and low curb, smart tiling, a walk in shower enclosure is possibly the best bathing choice you could make. Finishing it off with underfloor heating or a heat lamp will then transform your shower from a basic ritual into a spa-like experience, a luxury like no other. Walk in shower enclosures and wet rooms deliver an open luxury and a beautiful, prismatic centrepiece to your bathroom that nothing else can quite achieve.
Another fantastic advantage to walk in shower enclosures and wet rooms is the brilliant accessibility that they both grant. There are a huge number of reasons as to why climbing into and out of a bath may be difficult, and a walk in shower completely removes this issue, making it much easier for a user to get in quickly and easily without issue. Ease of use isn’t the only great part of the accessibility that walk in showers provide, however. With the extra space that a walk in shower provides, you can have enough extra space for two people at once, especially with the fitting of an extra shower. This can make difficult morning or evening routines go by much easier, as there is no wait for a partner before they can shower. This can be especially useful when multiple children need bathing before school, especially as the walk in nature of the shower means it’s easy for much younger children to get in easily and without the risk of slipping or falling.
Finally, walk in showers and wetrooms are incredibly durable and easy to maintain. There are very few fittings required for a walk in shower, as the common designs used don’t often make use of a large number of complex parts, or parts that can be worn away. This means that your shower will remain robust over a number of years of usage and will stand up to plenty of potential wear and tear. You won’t need to replace seals, fix hinges or repair worn or corroded metal. Your shower will simply remain good looking for years to come. This durability is matched only by the ease of cleaning that comes with the shower. Without handles or hinges, there is no metal that needs to be regularly scrubbed or cleaned, no taps that need buffing. There will only be time to enjoy your relaxing and luxurious shower. The glass involved in the shower will also likely come with easy to clean tempered glass that will be nice and simple to clean and spray down, and a tiled floor and wall will be easy to incorporate into the rest of your bathroom cleaning routine. If you choose to forgo a full clean all the time, cheap and easy-to-use shower sprays can be used to very easily clean the glass panels.
The Concerns
As can be seen above, walk in shower enclosures or wetrooms are a great choice for your home. There still are, however, some things to consider before going ahead and buying one for your bathroom. The cost is one, and whilst there are many fantastic retailers that can help you get a good shower for a fair price, it will likely be steep for a wet room, though much less for a walk in shower. This cost goes toward waterproofing the floors and installing new drain systems and are not optional sadly. This could be where walk in showers are a better option, as they are cheaper and easier to install than wet rooms.
The other thing to consider is that there will be a large amount of glass being used and, with modern designs, it is unlikely that it will be framed in anything. This can be a risk if you have young children. Though the glass will be beveled and so won’t be sharp or dangerous, children could be less delicate around large panes of glass, meaning there could be a chance of the glass being damaged or chipped. This shouldn’t be much of a problem but is something to consider if you are changing a family bathroom.
As you can see, walk in shower enclosures and wet rooms are fantastic choices for your new shower system, and should be high on your consideration list thanks to the excellent luxury they provide and the brilliant ease of use they allow.